


Got your books

by wwwinteriscoming



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Getting Together, Got your back, Hurt/Comfort, Jack Knew First, M/M, checking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 13:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6705820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wwwinteriscoming/pseuds/wwwinteriscoming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He not only let him get near Bitty, he let him run Bitty to the ground. Now Bitty wasn’t getting up and he knew that if he were any other person, he’d skate right over and offer all the support he could, but he has very little to give in terms of support and consolation, but he knows one thing he can do for Bitty right now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Got your books

**Author's Note:**

> The Tumblr links are yet again, to the SMH group chat.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to Ngozi from her webcomic Check, Please! (omgcheckplease.tumblr.com)

Jack is angry. Well, Jack’s always angry, you may shrug. But right now, Jack is so angry he’s seeing red. He’s on the ice and they’re winning and they’d been having such an amazing game. Their passes were lightning quick, Chowder was doing insane and Bitty and he had been passing by feel alone for the entire match. He had, however, also been watching Bitty, because there was this huge guy from the other team watching fragile Bits like a hawk and Jack’d be damned before he let someone that big get anywhere near Bitty. But he did. He not only let him get near Bitty, he let him run Bitty to the ground. Now Bitty wasn’t getting up and he knew that if he were any other person, he’d skate right over and offer all the support he could, but he has very little to give in terms of support and consolation, but he knows one thing he can do for Bitty right now.

Half an hour later, Bitty and he are sitting next to each other in the locker room and Jack’s sure they must look like an odd pair. Bitty’s eyes are red and puffy, his blond hair clinging darkly to his head with sweat and his heavily swollen ankle precariously balanced on a stack of various items Lardo’d been able to scrounge up. She just desinfected Jack’s knuckles and gave him an ice pack to hold to his throbbing black eye. She’d looked at him intensely, as if she were willing for him to partake in a conversation he didn’t know of and, well, their non-verbal communication usually works pretty smoothly, but tonight, Jack hadn’t been able to read her. He’s blaming it on the fact that one of his eyes is, in fact, temporarily disabled. 

The second she’s gone, a silence falls over the room. Far away, they hear the racket of the rink, of both the crowd and the game. He knows he has to get back out there after a few minutes, but it feels nice. This moment. He wants to save as much of it as he can. The burn in his hands, the throbbing of his eye, the distant rumble of noise, Bitty’s relaxed exhale next to him and his warmth radiating onto Jack. 

After a few moments of agreeable silence, a voice suspiciously like Shitty’s tells him that this moment is not about him and what he needs, because Bits is the one in need of comfort. Jack racks his brain trying to find something he could do that could possibly offer Bitty some comfort. He rules out baking as an option quickly and settles for talking instead. Talking is something he can do. Not something he can do very good or very long, but he hasn’t got much time anyway and he’s Bitty’s only option.

“You should see the other guy,” he says, turning to smirk at Bitty who tries to fight a smile.  
“Can he still walk though?” He says and his voice is so small and defeated Jack feels a lot like getting back on the ice to pummel that idiot further into it. “Not comfortably no,” he says, grinning smugly, because that was a good come back and it came to him all naturally and Jack feels almost giddy with it. Bitty bumps his shoulder with his. “Thanks. Seriously. You know you didn’t have to do that though, right? Like I’d hate stuff like that to ruin the opinion of NHL teams,” he says and during the span of that sentence, his soft smile dies and is replaced by an honest to God pout and Jack idly thinks grown boys have no business looking this adorable sulking.

“It won’t. If anything, they’ll think it shows I don’t let anybody mess with me or my team mates. Shows I’ve got spirit, something they all like in a player,” he says, while nudging Bitty’s shoulder back, because he’s not allowed to feel bad about this. That was the entire point of the operation. 

“Yeah, your team mate,” Bitty says, wringing his hands together so tightly Jack thinks it must hurt and avoiding Jack’s eyes carefully. His voice has a sad, wistful edge to it Jack wants to know more about it, mostly so he can make sure it never resurfaces again. But then Hall sticks his head around the door and yells at him to hit the ice. And because following orders and playing hockey is something he knows how to do, he does. His mind may stray from the ice more than it ever does, to a fragile looking boy protectively curled into himself in the locker room. 

When the team gets to the locker room, Bitty has already left. All the stuff that had been in the pile has been returned to its rightful place, Bitty hasn’t left as much of a trace of his presence. Which they could have expected, but, like, Bitty is supposed to minimize moving or that ankle will take ages to heal. 

Everybody is buzzing from the win, but there’s an underlying current of anxiousness about Bits that makes the room claustrophobic for Jack. He showers as quickly as possible and sets out to track his injured team member down. He’d be a lousy captain if he didn’t at least try to get Bitty to sit on his ass for longer than ten seconds. 

His phone buzzes.. And doesn’t stop buzzing while he’s making his way back to the Haus. Where he thinks Bitty will be. Jack doesn’t think there’s any situation Bitty wouldn’t try to make better with baking. Which, ridiculous and the least pragmatic thing possible right now, but very Bitty nonetheless. He sighs and reads the hectic conversation, typed out in the frenzy in the locker room. Those idiots, honestly. 

<http://wwwinteriscoming.tumblr.com/post/143696333762/bitty-gets-checked-and-isnt-in-the-locker-room>

Shitty: has anybody seen bits????

Lardo: I installed him in the locker room, he was supposed to stay there until you boys were ready to take him back to the house…

Holtz: a detective mission, i think?

Rans: You read my mind, bro

Lardo: That seems like a very bad idea.

Holtz: auch

Rans: You wound us.

Lardo: Alas I do speak the truth. 

Shitty: where is bits???????

Jack: I’m tracking him down right now.

Nursey: I feel like somebody should inform you that both Shitty and Holtz practically choked on Gatorade after that text. Maybe go for “searching him”?

Rans: No, no, we have sent our best tracker after our hardest to catch 

Holtz: the great Zimmerman's primal hunting instincts have been awakened. tread carefully, Bits, your chances of survival lessen drastically by the second

Shitty: i know sometimes he acts like it, but jack is in fact NOT the subject of a documentary on discovery channel.. have you TRACKED him down yet, oh captain my captain?????

Jack: At the Haus now. Shut the fuck up for five seconds and don't come in here until I give you the okay.

Shitty: oh man he's bossing us around?? that's so hot???????

Lardo: Put pants on, Shits. It's freezing cold out.

Shitty: but my hypothetical pants would have just MELTED OFF lards!!!!

Rans: Please don't hurt our main food and comfort supplier, greatest of hunters and captains both!

Holtz: we beg humbly for your mercy  
Lardo: I will keep them out, Jack. Do what you have to do. I'll feed them beer elsewhere.

Jack knows he doesn’t need to voice his thanks. That Lardo will receive it anyway. Her brain waves are extremely tuned into his that way. When he reaches the Haus, there’s faint light coming from the kitchen. Which is worrisome in and of itself. That’s not enough lighting for Bitty to work with. That’s hardly enough lighting for Bitty to see his surroundings, meaning he might end up hurting himself more and it seems as if only a breath passes between that thought forming and his cautious opening of the kitchen door.

“Bitty?” Jack tries to take in as much as he can of the situation before him before examining Bitty, because he’s pretty sure he’ll become a lot less observant the second he does. Softly, some girl is singing about how there’ll always be another mountain to climb.. And that sometimes you’re gonna have to lose. Which is not what Jack wants Bitty to ever be thinking. A little louder than the music are the sobs and the sniffling. 

Jack breathes in, counts, breathes out, counts. He can do this. He wasn’t afraid of punching that moron’s lights out earlier. He wasn’t afraid of telling the team to back off earlier (something he’s normally at least a little scared of). He isn’t going to let himself be scared of this. Bitty needs comfort and he thinks that, for the situation he’s in, for the things he’s probably feeling, he might just be the exact person he needs. 

So he seats himself next to Bitty on the floor. Close enough for his presence to be felt, but not close enough to be quite touching. 

“How are you feeling?” He asks and he hates that he probably looks as much as he feels like he’s trying not to spook a wounded animal. He doesn’t want Bitty to feel bad for any of this.

“Like shit, Mr Zimmerman, does it come as a surprise to you?” Bitty asks, finally, finally turning to face Jack and his breath gets stuck in his throat, because the blond hair is still in wilder disarray than Jack’s ever seen it aside from the short periods of time between practice or a game or a run and his shower and his eyes are bloodshot and swollen from crying and he’s biting on his lower lip so hard he’s bound to draw blood soon. His injured leg is shaking and voice is thick with tears and emotion and Jack lets his hands hover uselessly for a second or two, because he wants so badly to fix, but he knows he can’t. 

“No, it’s not, Bits. You’re allowed to feel like shit, too, eh?” He settles for along with a hand on one of Bitty’s shoulders and that seems to break the physical dam that had been between them, because Bitty pulls him in and hugs him tightly and Jack didn’t know this would be something he wanted. But if he does, he can give it to him. Gladly. He hugs him back and tries to convey as much of what he’s feeling in the hug as possible. 

“I can’t do anything,” Bitty says, voice wobbly after he’s pulled back from the hug, but Jack, still holding onto his forearms and there’s only a little space between their faces and in the background, some guy is singing about how space is only a word invented for people who are afraid to get close. And Jack is. Jack is a person who’s afraid to get close. Except somehow right now he is not. And he doesn’t know how or why exactly, but he’s grateful nonetheless.

“That’s not..” True, he tries to say, but Bitty cuts him off. “I can’t fucking walk. I can’t bake. I can’t play hockey. I can’t get upstairs. I can only sit here, suffer more pain than strictly necessary and fucking do nothing,” Bitty says, so fast and so quiet, staring at his shaking hands, steadied only remotely by Jack’s grip on his forearms.

“Breathe with me, Bits, breathe with me,” Jack says quietly and he counts his inhales and exhales until he feels Bitty doing the same, until he feels the shaking subduing.

“Now. You can walk, you drama queen, that’s what crutches are for. You can bake. Because I’m gonna sit you there on that chair and you’re gonna boss me around and I’ll get you anything you need and do anything you need me to do, okay? And no. You can’t play hockey. Which is why you have to take care of yourself, so you can be on the ice again in no time okay?” And Bitty.. Well, Bitty had no right transforming like a fucking blooming flower right in front of his face so close to his face, Jack thought. Bitty’s dazzling smile made him brave enough to pick him up and deposit him in said chair. 

“You might also wanna read the group chat and potentially notify them that you’re, like, alive and that I didn’t kill you after finding you,” he mumbled softly in Bitty’s hair when he was pulling away from him after putting him down. He saw various expressions cross Bitty’s face before it settled in amused exasperation and fondness as he typed a quick reply. 

He whipped out his own phone to look. 

<http://wwwinteriscoming.tumblr.com/post/143696325657/bitty-gets-checked-and-isnt-in-the-locker-room>

Shitty: ZIMMERMAN U R CONSPICIOUSLY SILENT

Shitty: WE DON'T TRUST U WITH OUR FAVORITE DELICATE FLOWER

Rans: Bits, if he deserves a punch, you just have to say the word

Holtz: i've never understood that- which word?? DO U HAVE SECRET LANGUAGES W PEOPLE OTHER HTAN ME RANS???

Chowder: Oh, God, guys, I'm so embarassed I'm only now seeing this!! But I'm sure Jack is taking good care of Bitty!!!! They are both so awesome!!!!!!! Bitty needs somebody, like, extra awesome right now, like Jack!! Take care of him for us!!!!!!

Dex: Did Chowder just..

Nursey: Holy shit, Chow, we're so proud of you. That was comprehensible and legible!

Lardo: Lay off the chirping, assholes.

Lardo: If I can help, please say something, Jack. (Though I side with Chowder on thinking that you've got it covered).

Bitty: Awwwww, guuuys!! I am perfectly fine, whipping up a pie for you (with lots of Jack’s help) right now, you’re all welcome, but if you’re gonna host a kegster, please notify me in advance, so I can be transported to my room

Shitty: is “transported” a code word 4 jack carrying u bridal style?? is it????

Rans: It definitely is.

Lardo: Honestly, Bits, these morons have started hosting their keister right here in this bar we stumbled into, so you’re good. (Though, Zimmerman, you should still do that. And Bitty, we want photographic evidence).

Shitty: also v happy u have been TRACKED DOWN bits!! take care bro!

Holtz: what he said^

Chowder: Yes, Dex, Nursey and I think so, too!!! Well, I’m sure they think so, too, they’re using their phones to balance them on top of their noses as long as possible, so I can’t be sure (don’t want do distract them and they’re not definitely not checking their phones actively themselves). Yay, pie!!!!!!!!!! Yay, Bitty safe and good!!!!!!!!!! Yay, best captain Jack!!!!!!!

They work easily together to make a couple of pies before Bitty starts slumping in his seat and can barely keep his eyes open, but Jack gets that he’s fighting it. This is a good moment. Tomorrow, Bitty will have to deal with the aftermath of the mess that this was supposed to calm him down from, but he’s determined to make his recovery as pleasant and as speedy as possible.

Which is why there’s a glass of ice cold water and painkillers on Bitty’s night stand the next morning and all his books are in Jack’s bag and his clothes are laid out and Jack’s door is wide open, so he can see when Bitty makes an appearances, so he can carry him downstairs. Because, yes, he will. 

He carries a flustered and ridiculously grateful Bitty down, the both of them grateful they’re the only early risers and Jack’s making them breakfast, commanded by Bitty when Bitty clears his throat and is beet red when Jack turns. “What’s wrong?” Jack asks, because a quick assessment tells him nothing physical has changed, so he isn’t sure what to do next. And then Bitty takes his crutches and hobbles over to him, because for all his grace on the ice, he’s just not feeling this method of transportation yet and stops right in front of him. He drops his crutches and steadies himself by putting his hands on Jack’s chest. And the hands burn through Jack’s shirt and Bitty looks a little surprised, so he’s sure he must feel it, must feel the effect he’s having on Jack.

This would be as good a time as any, Jack thinks to himself and then Bitty opens his mouth to speak and Jack’s always preferred deeds over words and there’d been so much talking already that he just leans down, covering Bitty’s hands with his and presses their lips together in a sweet, careful kiss. When they break apart, Bitty buries his face in his shirt and holds onto him tighter. Jack can only respond in kind. He doesn't know if it's a romantic moment, both of them clinging to each other like drowning men, but it's a meaningful moment. And he appreciates it. It allows him to show his feelings the way he does best. And he'd never expected it, but holding Bitty that way and having Bitty holding him, he's starting to think Bitty and he are more alike than either of knew before. That is, until Bitty starts talking. First, it's a steady, quiet stream of just his name and he's always been amazed at how much weight and emotion Bitty can put in little words and he would never get tired of hearing him saying his name, except it's with more despair and disbelief than he's ever heard before and he's pretty sure he doesn't like the sound of that. After a minute or so, "Jack" becomes "Oh, my God," and then a steady flow of words. "This is not some weird guilt thing, because I've been checked right? Because you're forgiven that. Well, there's not much to forgive you for, but you are. Forgiven. Completely. It's necessary, but you might need it anyway." And Jack releases a breath he didn't know he was holding and feels tension oozing out of his body. This boy in his arms is so beautiful wonderful and knows him so well. His heart soars before crashing a little again, because how can Bitty ever think anything like that? "I.. No. I really like you. Really. Like, like you," Jack wrings out and because it feels inadequate, he lifts Bitty's chin and kisses him again, softly and gently. "Okay," Bitty nods into his chest then. "Okay." And they both wish they didn't have to, but they break apart and eat breakfast then. They go to class, Bitty stumbling along behind Jack, who's carrying his books in his own backpack and warding off everybody who might come close enough to bring him any more harm. Bitty tries to convey through his eyes that everything's fine, really, but Jack's death glares to everybody make most people steer clear of them anyway. Which is just fine by Jack. When they've settled into their seats in class, Jack takes out his phone, planning on updating the group chat when he finds there's no need for that anymore. 

<http://wwwinteriscoming.tumblr.com/post/143696327072/bitty-gets-checked-and-isnt-in-the-locker-room>

Rans: Stop hogging, Bitty, Jack!!

Holtz: yeah, we wanna be able to verify he's fine!

Rans: Which is, by the way, on your stupid manager, who you totally schemed with that we couldn't see him anymore when we returned!! Boo!!!!

Lardo: You're welcome, Jack.

Shitty: guyzzzzzzzzzzz

Shitty: chill outttttttt

Dex: Oh, no, not you, too.

Shitty: bits is A+ and so is our dearest captain, bc they've FINALLY GOTTEN THEIR SHTI TOGETHER!!!!!

Chowder: ??????????????

Shitty: ah, yes, sweet baby goalie, our team mom and dad have finally K-I-S-S-E-D (some ppl want breakfast in the morning, peeps, did u think nobody would see???)

Shitty: also, even if i did not see then, i have passed you in the hallway and the love sick smiles say it all

Lardo: Awwww, I'm so happy for you guys! Shits, do we give them both the talk? Do we give one mutual talk? Who do we threaten with what??

Rans: YEAHHHHHHHHHHH

Holtz: rans and i are in on the mutual talk

Chowder: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack grins at Bitty after reading it and hands him his phone. After a few seconds, Bitty's eyes find his own and his answering smile is so dazzling, Jack ducks his head with a blush and faces their professor, who's just walked in.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, yes, it is I with my favourite trope again. Working on the date and Bitty's POV for "A no's a given, a yes might be gifted", but life (or well, uni) has been wearing me out. THANK YOU for all the love though. You make my days brighter!
> 
> My (subtle) music references:  
> 1\. Miley Cyrus - The Climb  
> 2\. Nick Jonas - Space


End file.
